🔒 New to coding

[urban chasm]

Hello I've been coding for about 2 weeks now. I feel like a complete dumbass and things that should make sense by now I still don't quite get, I'm just trying to pick up bits of information here and there and trying (miserably) to apply them. Is this normal? Is coding ever going to really click?

[sour hearth]

@urban chasm

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[strong flicker]

yes, that is very normal and it just takes time and practice

[queen plover]

it's different for everyone, but 2 weeks is still very early into learning programming

What resource are you learning from? How much time do you spend a day? Do you practice on your own or only following tutorials?

[urban chasm]

I got an introduction to python book by a friend which has follow along exercises, i did the first portion which explained loops and variables and stuff and then i started to make beginner projects, like a calculator or a random number guesser, now im trying out easy leetcode problems, not because i can solve them but to learn something little with each problem. when i dont understand something (often) i ask AI how it works and then ask AI to make little exercises for me to apply the concept that i dont quite get. does that make sense?

[queen plover]

Yeah, that seems like you're on the right track!

I don't think leetcode is great for beginners though since it's a bit more "mathy" and algorithm focused

I recommend codewars since I think it has a bit more of a focus on learning the tools and general problem solving

[strong flicker]

yeah, leetcode is mostly about DSA rather then "normal" programming and problem solving that you probably will encounter more in day to day projects

[urban chasm]

ok I'll try out codewars then. I guess at this point its about perseverance and not getting discouraged. thanks a lot guys!

[queen plover]

What are some of your goals with learning python?

[urban chasm]

dont really have a specific goal in mind. i need to learn some statistic for university and im quite interested in AI/LLM stuff and in general coding seems like a nice skill to have so I just started doing it in my free time

[tawny basin]

There's a very large amount of information to learn if you look at software development as a whole, you can spend many years learning and you won't really be done, but different more specific things will start clicking and become more intuitive as you go.

You'll always struggle more with stuff you're less familiar with, even 20 years down the line.

[queen plover]

but hopefully over time, your approach to new problems will have improved

[tawny basin]

That's true. You do become better at learning things.

[urban chasm]

are there transferable skills that come from coding? i feel like it could teach you to think very linearly in everyday things as well

[tawny basin]

Perhaps in terms of just pure logic. You have to solve a lot of logical problems when you code and solve bugs, and I think perhaps that's made me better at logical reasoning in general.

[queen plover]

A big part of programming is breaking down a large problem into bite-sized problems that are easier to tackle. I find I apply this in other areas as well

I do character builds in game dev, and a lot of it is problem solving as well. I find a lot of parallels between programming and constructing characters (even more so since I use python to do it)

[tawny basin]

Maybe also in task management. You often have to think about what the optimal way to solve a task or set of tasks is, and maybe that somewhat influences how I plan and organize tasks in non-programming contexts to some extent.

[urban chasm]

makes sense. thanks again guys

[crude umbra]

Same @urban chasm I started about 2-3 weeks ago and i used to feel the same but i have been getting used it nowadays and it doesn't feel so hard too!

[sour hearth]

Python help channel closed for inactivity

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